MAZDA MX-5 (1.6L - 130 bhp) - 28.000 €
CATERHAM 165 (660 c.c. - 81 bhp) - 30.000 €
FIAT 124 SPIDER (1.4L - 140 bhp) - 32.000 €
MAZDA MX-5 (2.0L - 160 bhp) - 40.000 €
CATERHAM 275 (1.6L - 137 bhp) - 43.000 €
ABARTH 124 SPIDER (1.4L - 170 bhp) - 43.000 €
LOTUS ELISE (1.6L - 136 bhp) - 45.000 €
Sadly the Elise S (1.8L - 220 bhp) breaks the budget barrier I set myself for "fun" cars I don't really need (about 50.000 €). It now costs in Portugal about 57.000 €.
And by looking at new car prices I discovered that Morgan prices have exploded since I bought mine. The M3W now costs 50.000 €, and a new Plus 4 now costs 65.000 €! Wow, just wow, can't imagine what the prices would be if the pound had kept it's pre-referendum value.
In the end a toy car is all about what appeals to you and SWMBO. The Lotus is definitely more hard core than the MX5 but the Caterham is worse still so I cant see that appealing to your wife. I'm not even sure I would call it a car. Of the two MX5 variants, its a personal choice.
I have never been impressed by FIAT quality and even on the Ferrari the build was such that exhaust manifolds are a 20k mile consumeable ( seriously!) at £5k a pop and clutches on the F1 boat are 10km to 20km items at only £3k a pop. The FIAT saloon that I bought my son was a rolling disaster with so many major faults you wouldnt believe. So my choice every day would be the Japanese built car.
